Google Strategic Analysis

Strategic Audit of Google Google Abstract Google was founded by two Stanford PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in 1998. The two recognized a need within the internet services industry for a search engine that would provide accurate results. The two opened Google, Inc. as an online company that provided a superior search engine, a platform for extremely targeted advertisements, and intranet solutions to internet users across the world. The company obtained the majority of its revenues by selling advertising space within the search results. Google employed an innovative system for selling this space to companies; companies would only have to pay Google for the advertising space if a customer â€Å"clicked† on their advertisement. As Google became the most-used search engine in the world due to its greater accuracy of producing relevant results, advertising revenues increased at a phenomenal rate. Google faced competition from others in the internet search services industry; specifically AOL, MSN, and Yahoo. Each competitor recognized the importance of a quality search engine to customers – as well as the opportunity to gain advertising revenues – and was attempting to develop an innovative search engine that would top Google’s. Competition from Microsoft was also a possibility. Microsoft indicated that they might attempt to add a search engine to their new operating system that was set for release in 2006. While Microsoft was not an established player in the internet search services industry, they had the technical expertise and massive resources to present a major competitive threat. The importance of the search engine to Google’s competitors as a stand-alone service was great but the development of a search engine rivaling or bettering Google’s would also attract customers to their other services. Google’s competitors offered many other services, in addition to their search services, such as email, online dating, and fantasy sports networks and were successful in doing so. Google’s success as a company hinged almost completely on the success of their search engine. Google, Inc. egan to diversify into other segments of the internet services industry in order to lessen the risk of having only one truly successful product and to build up both their customer base and customer loyalty. Google began to offer internet users the ability to search within a directory of 425,000 still images. Their collection of images tied with Yahoo’s as internet users’ first choice for image-searches. Google also began offering a directory of 50 0 million discussion topics that dated back to 1981 called Google Groups. Customers, in addition to being able to examine discussion topics within Google Groups, could add postings to a new group. Also, in 2004, Google began offering its users access to a compilation of 4,500 news sources located all over the world. Google then developed a service that would allow cell phone and handheld device customers to use Google’s search and other services on their wireless devices. In addition to these services and others, Google developed Google Catalog, a service that would allow users to search print mail order catalogs, and offered email accounts to select clients. In order to remain ahead of the competition and an industry leader in providing internet services, Google had to now make some strategic decisions. To assure the future of the company, Google’s management team knew that they would have to differentiate Google’s products from those offered by competing companies, such as Yahoo, MSN, and AOL. Google could either continue to expand the amounts of services it offered (i. e. include text messaging services, large email accounts, and others), it could work to improve the services it offered across the board, or it could focus on improving its most successful creation: the Google search engine. Each option had its merits and the company had plenty of resources to use in pursuing any of these three (or other) strategies. The difficult issue was choosing the most appropriate strategy for the company. I. Current Situation A. Performance ? Most-used website in the world ? Possesses global brand; one-half of internet users outside the United States ? High degree of user loyalty and brand identity ? Employs interface for over 88 languages ? Generally considered to possess the most accurate internet search engine ? Google network is utilized by 80% of internet users; used by 165 million people in the United States and United Kingdom per month ? Google’s 2008 revenues were $21,795,550,000, a 31. 34% increase since last year[1] ? Google’s 2007 revenues were $16,592,986,000, a 56. 47% increase over 2006’s revenues[2] ? Google’s cash increased 42. 34% from $6,081,593,000 in 2007 to $8,656,672,000[3] ? Google’s debt to equity ratio was 10. 44% in 2007 and 11. 1% in 2008. Yahoo’s debt to equity ratio was 22. 05% in 2007 and 17. 81% in 2008. Microsoft’s debt to equity ratio 50. 15% in 2007 and was 50. 7% in 2008[4] ? Google’s current ratio was 8. 49 in 2007 and 8. 77 in 2008. Yahoo’s current ratio was 2. 41 in 2007 and 2. 78 in 2008. Microsoft’s current ratio was 1. 44 in 2007 and 1. 69 in 2008[5] ? Google’s income from operations was 30. 64% of sales revenues in 2007 and was 30. 43% of sales revenues in 2008. Yahoo’s operating income was 9. 98% of sales revenues in 2007 and 0. 18% of revenues in 2008. Microsoft’s operating income was 36. 23% of revenues in 2007 and 37. 19% of sales revenues in 2008[6] ? Return on Assets (ROA) = 16. 6% in 2007 and 13. 3% in 2008. Yahoo’s ROA = 5. 4% for 2007 and 3. 1% in 2008. Microsoft’s ROA = 19. 3% in 2007 and 19. 9% in 2008. [7] ? Return On Equity (ROE) = 18. 5% in 2007 and 15. 0% in 2008. Yahoo’s ROE was 7. 2% in 2007 and 4. 5% in 2008. Microsoft’s ROE was 38. 8% in 2007 and 57. 4% in 2008[8]. B. Strategic Posture ? Mission Statement: â€Å"To organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. †[9] ? Objectives: ? Remain the industry-leading website in terms of internet traffic market share ? Remain the industry leader in providing the most accurate search engines ? Capture market share in the online advertising market and become the industry leader in providing directed, online advertising services ? Reduce risk by increasing market share in non-search internet services: Google catalog, Google Business Solutions, Google News, etc ? Begin licensing patented wireless technology and intellectual property to other companies ? Further diversify company from competitors C. Corporate-level strategies ? Pursue a strategy of concentric diversification by entering into other areas of the internet services market D. Business-level strategies ? Differentiate Google’s products from those offered by competitors ? Competitive rather than cooperative E. Functional-level strategies ? Google’s R strategy is to be a technological leader ? Google’s marketing strategy is to simultaneously pursue a market development strategy to gain market share for its search engine and pursue a product development strategy to increase the diversity of its product portfolio. In both cases, Google primarily uses a pull strategy to entice consumers to utilize its products. For example, Google uses Google Business Solutions to advertise the ways Google can help various businesses through the use of their products. This advertising results in businesses â€Å"pulling† Google’s products through the channels. ? Google’s financial strategy includes maintaining a low debt to equity ratio. Their debt to equity ratio was only 11% in 2008, which is much lower than that of the competition ? Google’s operations strategy includes increasing and maintaining global operations. They have offices and thousands of services in many different countries on several continents. This is more fully discussed in a later section. ? Human resources – Google’s HR strategy entails maintaining and further developing an extremely diverse work force. Its strategy is also focused on attracting employees with advanced technical skills and paying them well both monetarily and with many fringe benefits. This is more fully discussed in a later section. II. Corporate Governance A. Board of Directors[10] ? Eric Schmidt has served as our Chief Executive Officer since July 2001 and as a member of our board of directors since March 2001, where he served as Chairman of the Board from March 2001 to April 2004. In April 2004, Eric was named Chairman of the Executive Committee of our board of directors. Prior to joining us, from April 1997 to November 2001, Eric served as Chairman of the board of directors of Novell, Inc. , a computer networking company, and, from April 1997 to July 2001, as the Chief Executive Officer of Novell. Eric was a director of Siebel Systems until January 2006. Eric holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University and a Master's degree and Ph. D. in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley. Sergey Brin, one of our founders, has served as a member of our board of directors since our inception in September 1998 and as our President of Technology since July 2001. From September 1998 to July 2001, Sergey served as our President and Chairman of the Board. Sergey holds a Master's degree in computer science from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Science degree with high honors in mathematics and computer scien ce from the University of Maryland at College Park and is currently on leave from the Ph. D. program in computer science at Stanford University. Larry Page, one of our founders, has served as a member of our board of directors since our inception in September 1998 and as our President of Products since July 2001. From September 1998 to July 2001, Larry served as our Chief Executive Officer and from September 1998 to July 2002 as our Chief Financial Officer. Larry holds a Master's degree in computer science from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Science degree with high honors in engineering, with a concentration in computer engineering, from the University of Michigan and is currently on leave from the Ph. D. program in computer science at Stanford University. ? L. John Doerr has served as a member of our board of directors since May 1999. John has been a General Partner of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a venture capital firm, since August 1980. John is also a director of Amazon. com, Inc. , an Internet retail company, Homestore, Inc. , a provider of real estate media and technology solutions, Intuit, Inc. , a provider of business and financial management software, and Sun Microsystems, Inc. , a supplier of networking computing solutions. John holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School and a Masters of Science degree in electrical engineering and computer science nd a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Rice University. ? John L. Hennessy has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2004. Since September 2000, John has served as the President of Stanford University. From 1994 to August 2000, John held various positions at Stanford, including Dean of the Stanford Unive rsity School of Engineering and Chair of the Stanford University Department of Computer Science. John has been a member of the board of directors of Cisco Systems, Inc. , a networking equipment company, since January 2002 and chairman of the board of directors of Atheros Communications, Inc. a wireless semiconductor company, since May 1998. John holds a Master's degree and Doctoral degree in computer science from the State University of New York, Stony Brook and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Villanova University. ? Arthur D. Levinson has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2004. Since July 1995, Art has served as a member of the board of directors of Genentech, Inc. , a biotechnology company, and has served as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since September 1999. Prior to 1999, Art held various executive positions at Genentech, including Senior Vice President of R. Art has been a member of the board of directors of Apple Computer, Inc. , a computer hardware and software company, since 2000. Art was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Microbiology at the University of California, San Francisco. Art holds a Ph. D. in biochemistry from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Science degree in molecular biology from the University of Washington. ? Ann Mather has served as a member of our board of directors since November 2005. Since April 2004, Ann has been a director of Central European Media Enterprises Group and serves on its Audit and Compensation Committees. She served as a director of Shopping. com from May 2004 until it was acquired by eBay in 2005 and was Chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee. From 1999 to 2004, Ann was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Pixar. Prior to Pixar she was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Village Roadshow Pictures. From 1993 to 1999 she held various executive positions at The Walt Disney Company, including Senior Vice President of Finance and Administration for its Buena Vista International Theatrical Division. Ann holds a Master's degree from Cambridge University. ? Paul S. Otellini has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2004. Paul became the Chief Executive Officer and President of Intel Corporation, a semiconductor manufacturing company, in May 2005. Paul has been a member of the board of directors of Intel since 2002. He also served as Intel's Chief Operating Officer from 2002 to May 2005. From 1974 to 2002, Paul held various positions at Intel, including Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Intel Architecture Group and Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Sales and Marketing Group. Paul holds a Master's degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a Bachelor's degree in economics from the University of San Francisco. ? K. Ram Shriram has served as a member of our board of directors since September 1998. Since January 2000, Ram has served as managing partner of Sherpalo, an angel venture investment company. Prior to that, from August 1998 to September 1999, Ram served as Vice President of Business Development at Amazon. com, Inc. , an Internet retail company. Prior to that, Ram served as President at Junglee Corporation, a provider of database technology, acquired by Amazon. om in 1998. Ram was an early member of the executive team at Netscape Communications Corporation. Ram holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Madras, India. ? Shirley M. Tilghman has served as a member of our board of directors since October 2005. Since June 2001, Shirley has served as the President of Princeton University. From August 1986 to June 2001, she ser ved as a Professor at Princeton University and from August 1988 to June 2001 as an Investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Shirley holds a Ph. D. n biochemistry from Temple University and an Honorary Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Queen's University. ? Three members are inside board members and seven are outside board members; two are female ? Committees include: audit, leadership development and compensation, nominating and corporate governance, executive, acquisition, and real estate[11] B. Top Management ? Eric Schmidt , Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer ? Larry Page , Co-Founder & President, Products ? Sergey Brin , Co-Founder & President, Technology Nikesh Arora , President, Global Sales Operations and Business Development ? Laszlo Bock , Vice President, People Operations ? Shona Brown , Senior Vice President, Business Operations ? W. M. Coughran, Jr. , Senior Vice President, Engineering ? David C. Drummond , Senior Vice President, Corpora te Development and Chief Legal Officer ? Alan Eustace , Senior Vice President, Engineering & Research ? Urs Holzle , Senior Vice President, Operations & Google Fellow ? Jeff Huber , Senior Vice President, Engineering Omid Kordestani , Senior Advisor, Office of the CEO and Founders ? Patrick Pichette , Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer ? Jonathan Rosenberg , Senior Vice President, Product Management ? Rachel Whetstone , Vice President, Public Policy and Communications ? Susan Wojcicki , Vice President, Product Management III. External Environment Analysis (EFAS, see Exhibit 1) A. General Environment[12] 1. Natural Environment ? Solar or geomagnetic storms in space could destroy or damage Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites as well as cause electric power outages on earth. In 1989, a geomagnetic storm caused a nine-hour power outage in Eastern Canada that affected millions of people[13]. The GPS satellites are used by Google to provide their Google Earth service. The power outages could affect internet traffic which would reduce Google’s advertising revenues. The power outages may also prevent Google from offering services due to a lack of power to run their equipment. Another possibility is that Google may have to use back-up power – such as generators – or purchase it temporarily at a higher rate from another source; thereby increasing their operating costs (T) ? Climate change is expected to result in an increase in the intensity and the frequency of severe storms. Weather issues that are expected to increase in both intensity and frequency are: windstorms such as tornados and hurricanes, heat waves and droughts, storms with extreme rains or snow, and dust storms. Floods and landslides are expected to increase as well[14]. This could affect Google by causing damage to the communications infrastructure – i. e. cable cuts – which would cause the internet connections to become intermittent or nonexistent until the cable cut or related issue is repaired. In the case of wireless connections, â€Å"wireless nodes† like cell phone towers may be knocked over. Other communications items such as switching networks may be damaged by extreme weather as well[15]. The extreme weather could prevent Google from delivering services to customers and could damage other businesses and industries as well; resulting in reduced revenues for Google and a slump in the overall economy (T) ? As mentioned above, storms with extreme winds are expected to increase which will likely increase the tumultuousness of the ocean. 5% of cable cuts in undersea cables are caused by ships’ fishing nets and 18% are caused by ships’ anchors. Extreme weather may increase the frequency of undersea cable cuts from ships; resulting in internet disruptions[16] (T) 2. Sociocultural Forces ? An estimated 577 million people worldwide access the internet using mobile devices. The number of people accessing the internet via mobile phones is expected to increase to 1. 7 billion by 2013. By 2014, mobile internet users are expected to make up around 50% of all internet users (O)[17] ? The pace of life is increasing for the average consumer. Due to advances in technology – like the cell phone, wireless laptop computer and email – each person with access to these technologies is pressured to complete more tasks. This increases reliance on the newest technologies to meet the demands of increasing expectations put upon consumers[18] (O) ? Consumers are worried about identity theft and privacy; especially how their information can be accessed and used by other companies and individuals online. [19] (O) ? The average American respondent spent 19 hours per week surfing the internet[20] (O) ? Email remains the most popular online activity. This is even more true with users 64 years and older. 73% of teenage users reported using email more than anything else on the internet and 74% of internet users aged 64 and older reported using email more than anything else on the internet[21] (O) ? The largest increase in internet usage can be found within the 70-75 year-old age group. Previously, 26% reported using the internet; this number has increased to 45%[22] (O) ? Internet users aged 18-34 are the largest group of internet users who use the internet for entertainment purposes. For this group, entertainment includes watching videos, playing online games, engaging in virtual worlds, and downloading music[23] (O) ? Internet users aged 12-34 are the largest group of users to read and write blogs and are also the largest group of users to engage in social networking via the computer[24](O) 3. Technological ? Internet speed is increasing[25] (O) ? Storage capacity on the internet is increasing (O) ? Internet software capabilities are increasing (O) ? Consumers are expecting a greater level of personalization in their web searches, frequently-visited websites, and internet services than in prior years[26] (O) ? Emergence of a new technology called The Internet of Things. This technology is designed to run hardware appliances – such as a refrigerator – as optimally as possible. Also, it runs sensors within appliances that can report back to the user via the internet. For example, in the case of a refrigerator, this technology would report what foods you are running low on and which foods may no longer be safe to eat[27]. e. g. , Google may want to examine providing an internet service designed to connect users with the hardware and software in use – especially via mobile device. )(O) ? 66% of internet users report using search engines when making complex decisions. (O) ? Respondents in the survey listed in the bullet above report only 25% of searches produce needed results the first time. Of these same responde nts, 30% report giving up on the search after failing to receive the desired result[28] (T) 4. Economic ? Period of American and global economic recession[29] (T) ? Fed. Chairman has declared that America’s recession is likely over and expects moderate growth for the next two years. [30] Around half of Google’s users are in the United States (see above). (O) ? An end to the recession in the European Union is expected during the third quarter of this year[31]. Around half of Google’s users are outside the United States (O) ? Federal interest rates are between 0-0. 25%, making capital more affordable for advertising customers and for Google[32] (O) ? Real GDP is expected to be -2. 6 this year but is expected to increase to 2. in the end of next year[33] (O) ? Consumer spending is expected to increase from -0. 9 this year to 1. 1 next year[34] (O) 5. Political – Legal ? Internet crimes (a component of these is copyright infringement), in one year, are estimated to have resulted in losses of $240 million dollars; as opposed to an estimated loss of $198 million dollars as a result of these crimes in the previous year. The increased amount of these crimes is likely to result in increasingly stringent regulations regarding crimes – including intellectual property-related crimes – perpetrated over the internet. The impact to Google is this: Google stores images and written works in their directory – exposing them to potential future legal liability for intellectual property related violations. Google has already been sued for this; Google was forced to remove 100,000 clips of copyrighted material from YouTube and paid out $90 million dollars to one party for a related issue[35] (T) ? Character defamation by anonymous bloggers has resulted in courts forcing companies like Google to reveal the identity of the anonymous blogger to the courts[36] (T). India is issuing subpoenas (or their equivalent) to â€Å"platform† companies like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft for content displayed on their â€Å"platforms. † The companies have court cases pending against them for content displayed on their sites including: copyright infringement, character defamation, hate messages, and gender selection advertisements[37] (T) B. Task Environment 1. Threat of New Entrants ? Threat of new e ntrants is medium ? Switching costs are virtually non-existent; customers can use search engines for free and can use them apart from other services offered by the company furnishing the search engine. Customers will likely try another search engine if the results they require cannot be obtained quickly and easily from the engine they are using. Google’s advertising customers are not required to sign a long-term contract; nor do they have to make a sizable investment up-front in order to place an ad with Google. Advertisers pay Google for space on their search engine results pages only when customers â€Å"click† on their ads and can therefore switch to another company without large sunk costs. ? Barriers to entry do exist, however, due to the amount of computer equipment necessary to be competitive with the likes of Google and Yahoo. Also, the large competitors within this arena have servers strategically placed all over the world. This may be difficult for a new company to this industry to replicate in a fashion that would make them competitive. Also, the large companies in this industry have vast amounts of information about their customers and online advertisers that would be difficult for a new entrant to amass. [38] 2. Rivalry Among Competitors ? Rivalry among competitors is high ? Google’s competitors (at this time) are all larger companies with large amounts of resources ? Google’s competitors offer other internet services as well as search services. The search engine attracts customers to their other services (for example, dating services, email, and fantasy sports league platforms); which raises the importance of possessing a superior search engine past its importance of a stand-alone service for Google’s competition ? Competition with Microsoft is expected to increase. Microsoft is attempting to integrate a search engine into its operating system and other products [39] ? Google considers Microsoft and Yahoo their greatest competition. These companies have greater cash resources and ability to make acquisitions, a longer operating history, and more established customer and end user relationships. They also operate internet portals and offer more products and services than Google does. In the case of Microsoft, they also have more employees [40] ? Google’s market share in the U. S. internet search market is 31%; Yahoo’s market share is 26% and MSN’s is 20%. This is very close. ? The industry is attractive and margins are high. Google’s success has increased the intensity of competition since these other companies want to share in the financial success ? Microsoft is working to develop a search engine to rival Google’s. This may be in lieu of the MSN search engine mentioned above[41]. This will definitely increase competition dramatically (in the short run at least) as Microsoft throws its resources in promoting their new product and attempting to steal market share from Google. Microsoft has a longer history of marketing than Google does, which may increase rivalry. 3. Bargaining Power of Suppliers ? Bargaining power among suppliers is low ? Google, as an internet-based service firm, requires few raw materials from outside sources. The supplies required, with the exception of electricity, are available from multiple sources ? Potential employees have some power over Google due to the short supply of qualified applicants. According to Google’s CEO, Google was having problems finding applicants that were either not technically proficient enough to complete the task at hand or of â€Å"insufficient quality. † 4. Bargaining Power of Buyers ? Bargaining power among buyers is medium ? Google has 31% of the internet search traffic market share, compared to 26% for Yahoo and 20% for MSN. This strengthens Google’s position with buyers since Google is the industry leader and is therefore more attractive than competitors to advertisers who would like to place ads on search engine results pages ? No buyer of Google’s services is responsible for larger than 3% of Google’s revenues. Because Google’s buyers are fragmented and none are responsible for a large amount of revenues, Google’s buyers do not have much power over Google[42] 5. Threat of Substitutes ? Threat of substitutes is high ? Although there aren’t any true substitutes for a search engine, there are different ways to organize information. In this case, a different method of searching might produce a substitute to the current method that may produce better results ? Yahoo, MSN, AOL, and Microsoft are working to develop search engines that will either equal or exceed the functionality of Google’s search engine and have the resources to allocate to a massive research and development effort. Time will tell whether they are, in fact, viewed as a substitute by search users. ? Google’s search-engine customers value accuracy of search results. Google’s competitors already offer search engines. Google’s competitors may be able to create a comparable search engine over time . Bargaining Power of Other Stakeholders ? Bargaining power of other stakeholders is medium ? Special interest groups, like the American Association of Publishers and the Authors Guild, have sued Google and won for copyright infringement for content used by Google on their Google Print and Google Books applications. These groups a nd other groups are constantly monitoring Google’s actions for incidents of actual or perceived copyright infringement on their applications. [43] ? Google has been forced, as a result of a lawsuit, to reveal the identity of a blogger who wrote offensive comments about a Canadian model. Google may be required to release the identity of other users upon request in the future because of this precedent which may reduce their customer base. [44]This example is meant to illustrate that individuals, as well as organized groups, may have the power to influence Google’s business operations ? Google’s employees have little power to exert when negotiating with Google. Labor within Google is not organized[45] IV. Internal Environment Analysis (IFAS, see Exhibit 2) A. Corporate Structure (See Exhibit 3 for organization chart) ? Google’s corporate structure is primarily functional. 46] ? Google is broken down into five functions: Engineering, Sales, Products, Marketing, Legal, and Finance ? Underneath the overarching functional structure, Google is further broken down into product markets or geographical areas, which technically makes Google’s structure a hybrid of functional, geographic, and product structures. ? Each product market or geographical a rea element under the functional areas is treated as a small business unit. The small business unit element of Google’s structure provides flexibility. B. Corporate Culture ? Corporate culture values innovation and ambidexterity. Employees (including corporate level managers) are encouraged to devote 70% of their time on core business activities, 20% of their time to core-business related projects, and 10% of their time to unrelated new business activities. According to Marissa Mayer (see top management section for job title), around half of Google’s new products are a direct result of actions taken by employees during their free time (S)[47] ? Culture seems to have high degree of intensity and integration ? Culture values include â€Å"an obsessive commitment to creating search perfection and having a great time doing it (S)†[48] ? Other priorities for Google members are innovation and keeping costs low ? Google values ability over experience and encourages everyone to share ideas. Also, Google created an informal atmosphere where anyone can ask the CEO or top management a question and be answered. [49] (S) ? Google’s corporate culture puts emphasis on not exploiting the user of their products. [50] ? Being quirky and having fun are also emphasized. Google’s work area has foosball tables, ping pong tables, volleyball nets, and several other games present (S)[51] C. Corporate Resources 1. Marketing ? Google promotes advertising packages through Google Business Solutions. Information is available to prospective clients on how Google can improve clients’ profitability through their advertising packages (S) ? Services – Google’s advertising customers often see Google’s service team as arrogant and find it time consuming and difficult to do business with Google because Google often switches the team assigned to handling the clients’ business before the clients’ advertising submission is complete (W) ? Google is second to Yahoo in being able to finalize agreements with advertisers (W) ? Television advertising is currently not being utilized by Google. In comparison, Microsoft is showing Television advertisements for their products. TV advertisements may reach a good portion of the older audience and inform â€Å"non-tech-savvy† about their products and services[52] (W) ? Google doesn’t advertise on their home page which is attractive to search customers (S) ? Extremely strong brand. Google has been added to the Oxford dictionary as a verb (S) ? Average sales per click per month were a little under 54. 5. However, Yahoo’s average sales per click were only 53 during the same month. Yahoo is currently Google’s biggest competitor[53] (S) ? â€Å"Adwords† system employed by Google to deliver advertisements is user-friendly for advertisers. Google’s system is also easy for advertising customers to use for changing the advertisement shown on Google’s results pages. (S) ? Product – Google’s search engine is most accurate in the world (O) 2. Finance ? Google’s revenues in 2004 were $3,189,223,000. This is 117. 56% greater than their revenues in 2003, which are $1,465,934,000 (S) ? Google’s cash balance in 2004 was $426,873,000; 186. 5% greater than their cash balance of $148,995,000 in 2003 (S) ? Google’s profit margin was 12. 52% in 2004. Yahoo’s, in 2004 was 23. 49. [54]Microsoft’s profit margin was 22. 17[55](W) ? Google’s quick ratio (acid test) was 7. 18[56] in 2004. Yahoo’s quick ratio in 2004 was 3. 38. Microsoft’s quick ratio in 2004 was 4. 44(S) ? Google’s Return on Assets (ROA)[57] was 21. 05% in 2004. Yahoo’s ROA in 2004 was 11. 83% and Microsoft’s ROA in 2004 was 9. 38%(S) ? Google’s Return on Equity (ROE)[58] was 25. 97% in 2004, as compared to Yahoo’s ROE in 2004 of 14. 65% and Microsoft’s ROE in 2004 of 11. 69%(S) ? Google’s debt to equity ratio was 13. 12% in 2004. Yahoo’s was 29. 24% in 2004 and Microsoft’s was 23. 47% in 2004[59](S) ? Net income was positive in 2002-2004. Net income was $399,119,000 in 2004; an increase of 277. 79% over 2003’s net income of $105,648 (S) 3. Research and Development ? In 2004, Google spent 7. 7% of sales revenues on R&D. This is very low for a tech firm (W) ? R&D is one of Google’s strengths. They have more market share in the search engine market because of the creation of their innovative search engine (S) ? Research and Development efforts have led to the creation of the most-used search engine in the world. Another notable innovation that relates to this is their creati on of a learning search engine. The more a customer uses their search engine, the more it learns and responds to the user’s individual preferences. Due to Google having the largest market share, their engine can learn faster than those offered by the competition which reduces its imitability[60]. (S) ? Google owns 13 registered trademarks and 7 unregistered trademarks as a result of R and D efforts[61](S) 4. Operations and Logistics ? One of Google’s biggest strengths is getting a large volume of users to their websites which makes them very attractive to advertisers (S)[62] ? Google has servers and locations all over the world to improve distribution of services[63] (S) ? Google has the ability to translate their information into over 88 different languages. This improves operations and logistics control when activities are taking place in a non-English- speaking country (S) ? Google’s Adwords system is self-managing; meaning that an advertising customer can change their campaign as their budget changes. This results in quick, efficient adjustments (S) 5. Human Resources Management ? Google employed 2,700 employees in 2005; 900 were â€Å"techies† ? Employees receive many fringe benefits in an effort to make them feel they are a priority. This strengthens corporate culture to a degree. Google has been listed as the top company to work for for two years in a row by Fortune Magazine. Employees have access to free high-end on-site dining facilities, snack stations, gyms, laundry rooms, barbers, massage rooms, dry cleaning, and several other employee fringe benefits[64] (S) ? Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, stated that the company was having problems recruiting employees who were both of acceptable caliber and technically proficient (W) ? Google maintains a diverse workforce and hires locals to work in its geographically dispersed locations (S) ? Google has a long hiring process that takes several months to complete. This would be a strength, except the company reported having problems finding people that were both quality employees and technically proficient (W) ? Employees are skilled at multitasking. For example, the individual who created Google’s holiday logo also was responsible for translating Google’s website into Hangul (Korean language) (S) ? Google’s technical employees work 70% of the time on regular business, 20% of the time on new but related business, and 10% of their time on completely new and unrelated projects. This makes Google more adaptable and builds â€Å"ambidexterity† into the organization (S) 6. Information System (IS) ? Google utilizes a system called â€Å"Live Out Loud† to promote communication between employees, to create a searchable database of related projects employees are working on to promote economies of scope and transfer of knowledge, and as a control system. How it works: Google employees weekly send an email to a central source concerning the specifics of the project they are working on and their progress. Google has used the same search engine it employs on its website Google. com to search through the emails to find the relevant ones. Managers simply have to search, using the Google search engine, for the employee’s progress they wish to evaluate. The system is user-friendly for both the employees and managers and it is simple. An employee working on a project can search the system for other relevant projects and obtain useful information they can incorporate when completing their specific task[65]. S) ? Google uses a triple redundancy system to ensure errors don’t disrupt the flow of timely information. If one computer doesn’t respond to an employee’s request for information within a few milliseconds, two others provide the information to the employee. All information is stored in three places. This makes their system very reliable and efficient in delivering timely information (S)[66] ? Google uses a database system called BigTable as part of their manag ement information system. Due to the volume of information Google must manage, Google has developed this software to break apart large files that are too big for any one server into smaller pieces so they can be stored on multiple servers. This ensures that capacity is available for their information[67] (S) ? Many of Google’s basic activities are automated (S) V. Strategic Alternatives and Selected Strategy A. Growth Strategies 1. Enter market providing legal music and video downloading services (S&O) a. Pros: ? Google has the intellectual capital to successfully develop the software to provide this service. Google has already proven that they can provide the search capabilities to link users with their desired songs or videos; their search engine is the most accurate in the world and the popularity of their product YouTube suggests they possess the capabilities to develop a desirable music/video downloading service ? With a large cash balance and the capabilities to obtain financing due to an extremely low debt to equity ratio, Google definitely possesses the financial resources to develop these services and bring them to market ? By providing different but related services, Google will be reducing their â€Å"diversifiable risk†, if you will, by increasing their product portfolio from one successful revenue generating product to several ? There is a large market for these services already in place; this market is likely to grow as digital media becomes more prevalent in society and obsolete technologies such as tapes, CDs, and records further decline ? Google’s brand strength would be beneficial in this market since the music and movie downloading industry is related to Google’s area of expertise (i. . it is equivalent to an industry leader in the manufacture of small power tools diversifying into producing concrete mixers and pumps, rather than the power tool company diversifying into diapers and other baby products. A DeWalt brand logo on a pair of diapers likely won’t transmit the same message of quality and expertise that it would on another type of tool) b. Cons ? Apple iTunes owns 82% of legal music downloading market. [68] Competing with a company that owns this much of the market share and has more experience in this industry will be very difficult ? Increases the probability of copyright infringement lawsuits ? Shifts emphasis away from Google’s core product – the search engine. If the search engine is imitated or surpassed by a better product before Google establishes a dominant position and greater profits and revenues from its new endeavor, Google may lose a large part of its almost sole source of revenues ? Regulation and trends concerning royalties paid to artists and music production companies may reduce the profitability of this industry ? Illegal downloading may increase; thereby reducing the size of the legal downloading market ? Requires maintaining existing advertising business model and creating and maintaining a new switchboard model (connecting multiple buying downloaders with multiple selling digital music and video suppliers 2. Develop new search engine designed for seniors markets – â€Å"Google Golden Life†. New search engine has an option for adjusting the size of the font used on the search pages based on the capabilities of the user’s vision and allows seniors to type in a question instead of just key words. In addition, it will contain a function that completes words for the typist if he or she so chooses (like an internet browser address box does) – concentric diversification (S&O) a. Pros ? First mover advantage could be gained by focusing on this market segment. Seniors have been ignored – for the most part – in the development of online products and services. No company currently caters to the needs of older internet users ? Seniors represent the largest growing demographic of internet users and represent a large segment of all societies ? The baby boomers are aging and will want/demand products focused on their needs soon ? Google possesses the financial resources to make this happen ? Google also possesses the brand strength and awareness to appeal to older users; older individuals tend to like larger, stable, established, well-known companies as opposed to small, new, relatively unknown startups ? Creating products geared toward older users may increase their interest in Google’s existing products ? Utilizes existing advertising business model to obtain revenues from pay-as-you-click advertisements b. Cons ? Today’s older internet user’s wants and needs are poorly understood by the online industry; this makes developing products/services focused at them a risky undertaking in the short-term. Younger baby boomers are familiar with current computer software but current seniors are less familiar and use computers more infrequently and for less activities (i. e. they may email but not shop extensively online) ? Once Google enters this market and proves the market is attractive, competition will increase and profits will likely go down as the market matures ? The idea of marketing online products and services geared toward older users is a newer one but an imitable one; other companies may have a greater understanding of the older consumer than Google since it has focused on products/services for a primarily younger audience with different needs. This means that other companies may prove to be more successful with this market segment than Google because of a greater knowledge of the older consumer ? Older users may only be interested in emailing and may have little interest in clicking on advertisements; thereby lowering the desirability of placing advertisements on Google’s new products ? May be hard to reach market segment to inform them of new product 3. Develop Social Networking System –â€Å"Google Linkage†Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Concentric diversification (S&O) a. Pros ? Facebook and MySpace are both very popular. Today, internet users 12-34 are largest demographic to engage in social networking. As this age group ages, they will likely continue to use social networking sites and younger individuals entering this age group will likely also engage in social networking via the computer; growth in the social networking industry is virtually assured. Why the growth in this industry is important for Google: advertising revenues will likely increase as ads are placed on social networking pages ? Creates the potential for another profitable advertising platform; reduces the reliance on advertising revenues created from one product – the search engine ? May increase interest in Google’s other products (i. e. a social networker uses Google Images to send a picture of a desert rose to another gardener via Google’s networking service) ? Could compliment Google’s existing mission of organizing the world’s information with a new addition to the mission: â€Å"Organizing the world’s information – and people – to make it and them universally accessible. † ? Google’s strong brand and reputation will likely spark interest from social networkers in Google’s new networking platform ? Google has the financial resources to create and advertise a social networking site either alone or through a joint venture ? Utilizes existing advertising business model to obtain revenues from advertisers through Google’s AdWords and AdSense ? Likely inexpensive to maintain once it is â€Å"rolled out† b. Cons ? Social networking market may be saturated. Customers may have all their needs met through Facebook and Myspace. These companies already dominate the industry and have more knowledge and experience in this market ? Google may not be able to provide any new innovations in social networking ? Doesn’t utilize their distinctive search competency ? May not prove profitable after a cost/benefit analysis is conducted since advertisements will be less focused on self-identified market segments. For example, if one conducts an internet search for Echeveria Subrigida seeds – a succulent plant – advertisements related to plants may be of interest to the searcher. However, an ad related to purchasing succulent plants online may not be of much interest to the random individual attempting to contact another individual whose interests and needs are also unknown ? Requires a different set of competencies than Google already possesses. Email is the most basic social networking method and Google did not perform well in creating a popular email system 4. Create open source network for the development of applications for mobile devices – Google Architects – concentric diversification (S & O) a. Pros ? Market is supposed to almost triple in size in the next five years ? Google already has knowledge of how to make internet applications compatible with mobile devices – i. e. connecting Google search engine to mobile devices ? It is forecasted that half of internet users will be mobile internet users ? Google has the financial resources to undertake both the product development and advertising ? Google has experience and ability when it comes to developing internet apps. ? Could be set up to accommodate Google’s existing business model – obtain advertising revenues through offering free products ? Takes advantage of innovative technical staff b. Cons ? Stiff competition – Apple already has a large market share for mobile applications that are used on the iPhone and others. Microsoft, as operating systems become more commoditized, will likely enter the mobile internet applications market ? May not generate much revenue if customers have a finite number of minutes on their mobile plan. Customers in this situation are not likely to engage in gratuitous searching for curiosity’s sake. ? While Google has proven adept at creating applications, their distinctive competency resides in search engine excellence. Developing apps for mobile users requires a different skill set and core competency. Google may not be able to gain competitive advantage in this market since generating applications may not be one their distinctive competencies 5. Create a search service designed to locate music in a superior manner – â€Å"Google Music. † The search system would allow a user to enter in any part of a song, a band name, a song name, or a CD name and the search will provide results that include not only what the searcher is specifically looking for, but also links to the band’s website, links to listening to or downloading a particular song or multiple songs from the artist, and links to other related sites (i. . sites that offer guitar tablature for the artist or song mentioned in the search) a. Pros ? Will attract more users to the Google search engine, which increases the desirability of advertising on Google’s web pages ? Google music will increase brand loyalty and strength as it meets more of Google’s customers’ needs ? Will strengthen the desirability of the search engine for existing customers ? Will capitalize on Google’s distinctive competency of creating a search engine that produces more accurate results than other search engines offered by competitors ? Will address the needs of the large segment of internet users that use the internet for obtaining and enjoying music ? May provide an additional source of revenues from bands that would like to advertise their products on Google Music’s results pages b. Cons ? Users can already find all of these items using the traditional Google search engine ? Will likely add little to Google’s revenue stream ? Doesn’t address the problem of Google only possessing one profitable product ? Doesn’t truly meet the needs of internet music users since it doesn’t allow users to download music directly from Google ? Most of the results will likely be advertisements. Users may not want to search through advertisements B. Stability Strategies 1. Pause/Proceed with Caution – Use resources to improve existing search engine until threat from Microsoft’s new search engine can be determined and countered. Then grow (S & T) a. Pros ? 99% of revenues are generated from ads placed on search engine pages – Google already dominates market for search services – this must be protected in the short term to protect the sustainability of Google as a company ? Google is currently doing well and doesn’t need to grow to stay in business in the short term ? Financial resources may be needed to counter Microsoft’s efforts to gain position in the search market ? Reinforces Google’s distinctive competencies ? Also allows for the economy to improve before expanding; advertisers may need to rest as well before further investing in ads in non-search related areas b. Cons ? Market dominance in the mobile applications market is being determined now. The opportunity to be the first to focus products toward seniors is open right now. The other opportunities presented above also are available now but may not be in the future ? Doesn’t address the problem and risk of having only one major income-producing product ? Google has the financial resources and ability to obtain further resources if necessary; there are no critical reasons not to grow ? Is only a short-term fix and may cause growth to be put off too long C. Retrenchment Strategies – Google, at this time, has no reason to retrench and should therefore stay away from adopting a retrenchment strategy. It is in good financial condition, its products are still desirable, and it has little to no chance of failing in the short term. D. Adopted strategy – Concentric diversification into mobile applications (Google Architect), music search services (Google Music), and products focused on older internet users (Google Golden Life), combined with investment in maintaining the superiority of the search engine. ? Rationale – both diversifying into mobile applications and products focused on older users deals with seizing opportunities by using organizational strengths (R&D, financial resources ,etc). Both areas represent growing markets and several opportunities to fill emerging or existing needs. Older users are the largest growing segment of internet users and mobile users are expected almost triple in the next five years to finally make up almost half of all internet users. Both allow focused advertising based on known customer needs and interests (the type of application utilized points out the interest – i. e. a customer uses an app to learn a new guitar chord; obviously the user has an interest in the guitar. Also, advertising can be focused on the users of the open forum. Both hardware and software tech companies can advertise on the forum. Elderly people have several universal needs and likely popular interests) and the use of the existing business model. By developing Google Music, Google will further strengthen their best product – the search engine – as well as utilize their distinctive competencies in search engine creation. This strategy diversifies the risk of having one profitable product, which eliminates a major organizational weakness, and is financially feasible given existing resources. The strategy doesn’t face a major threat of being derailed due to organizational weaknesses and outside threats don’t directly threaten the diversification efforts. Google would face virtually no competition by entering the market to deliver online products and services to older users and has the rare opportunity to obtain first mover advantage on a large scale (there are numerous elderly people in the world). Diversifying into these areas has a higher probability of success and is less risky than entering the social networking and downloading markets. Neither of these two areas of diversification would require major shifts in technological knowledge and would utilize the intellectual capital present in Google’s existing staff. This strategy does require an allocation of financial resources toward maintaining the superiority of the search engine because Google must rely on it for success in the short term and will aid in Google’s success over the long term. It represents their distinctive competencies and must be protected at all costs. Adding capital and effort to improving the search engine would not be mutually exclusive with the diversification strategy since Google possesses a large cash balance and a low debt ratio. Given Google’s situation, both parts – the concentric diversification and the concentration on the search engine should be focused on simultaneously. ? This corporate strategy requires a business level strategy of differentiation and functional level strategies of technology pioneer/leader in R&D and a product development strategy within Marketing E. Implementation 1. Product One (Google Golden Life -search engine designed for seniors markets. New search engine has an option for adjusting the size of the font used on the search pages based on the capabilities of the user’s vision and allows seniors to type in a question instead of just key words. In addition, it will contain a function that completes words for the typist if he or she so chooses (like an internet browser address box does) ? Product R&D should be allocated 2% of 2004 sales revenues for two years ($63,784,460/year) ? Organizational members must be chosen to head the new program and participate on R&D teams ? Required new activities must be evaluated for conflict with existing operating activities. ? At least two deadlines must be given to the teams: the first, a working beta version of the product must be created by the end of the project’s first year of existence. Second, a final product that is ready for use on the internet must be in place at the end of a year and a half. After the beta version is released, a team should be given a $1 million budget to obtain and forward on suggestions provided by older users on how to fit the program to their needs. Duration of team: 1 year. ? ROI after year two must be 6% or more and must be at least 10% by the end of year 5 ? Market share (of the existing older internet users) must be 5% at the end of year two and 20% or over after year 5 ? An updated version must be made available by the end of year two ? A flexible budget must be created for year o ne and year two. Pro forma income statements and balance sheets should be created for at least year two and five ? New product must make up at least 2% of total revenues by year two and at least 5% by the end of year five. ? Access to intranet databases must be given to staff working on both diversification products so that a. The wheel isn’t reinvented and, b. Learning can be transferred throughout the organization if relevant pieces of information are discovered during the creation of the new products ? Product must be available in at least three languages by the end of year 2 and 15 languages by the end of year 5 ? Economic value added should be positive at the end of year three 2. Product 2 (Google Architect – open source network for the development of applications for mobile devices) ? Product R&D should be allocated 1% of 2004 sales revenues for 2 years ($31,892,230/yr) ? Organizational members must be chosen to head the new program and participate on R&D teams ? Required new activities must be evaluated for conflict with existing operating activities. At least two deadlines must be given to the teams: the first, a working beta version of the product must be created by the end of the project’s first year of existence. Second, a complete product must be in place at the end of a year and a half ? ROI after year two must be 7% or more and must be at least 10% by the end of year 5 ? A flexible budget must be created for year one and year two. Pro forma income statement s and balance sheets should be created for at least year two and five ? New product must make up at least 3% of total revenues by year two and at least 6% by the end of year five. Access to intranet databases must be given to staff working on both diversification products so that cross pollination of ideas between projects can occur ? Product must be available in at least five languages by the end of year 2 and 20 languages by the end of year 5 ? After the beta version is released, a team should be given a $1 million budget to obtain and forward on suggestions provided by older users on how to fit the program to their needs. Duration of team: 1 year. ? Economic value added should be positive after year three 3. Product 3 (Google Music – The search system would allow a user to enter in any part of a song, a band name, a song name, or a CD name and the search will provide results that include not only what the searcher is specifically looking for, but also links to the band’s website, links to listening to or downloading a particular song or multiple songs from the artist, and links to other related sites (i. e. sites that offer guitar tablature for the artist or song mentioned in the search) ? Product R&D should be allocated 1% of 2004 sales revenues for 2 years ($31,892,230/yr) ? Organizational members must be chosen to head the new program and participate on R&D teams ? Required new activities must be evaluated for conflict with existing operating activities. ? At least two deadlines must be given to the teams: the first, a working beta version of the product must be created by the end of the project’s first year of existence. Second, a complete product must be in place at the end of a year and a half ? ROI after year two must be 7% or more and must be at least 10% by the end of year 5 ? A flexible budget must be created for year one and year two. Pro forma income statements and balance sheets should be created for at least year two and five ? New product must make up at least 1% of total revenues by year two and at least 2% by the end of year five. ? Access to intranet databases must be given to staff working on both diversification products so that cross pollination of ideas between projects can occur ? Product must be available in at least five languages by the end of year two and ten languages by the end of year five ? Economic value added should be positive after the year following the release date VI. Evaluation and Control A. Product 1 (Google Golden Life) ? Management should ensure a beta version is complete by the end of year one and a complete version is ready to be released on the internet by one and a half years ? Dupont Return on Investment (ROI) calculation (net profit margin x total asset turnover) should be used to verify whether or not ROI in year two meets or exceeds 6% in year two and 10% in year five. Management should audit the expenditures of the customer satisfaction team quarterly to determine if the team in charge of obtaining feedback by customers is staying within the budget and whether the budgeted amount of $1 million is adequate ? Management should determine whether or not market share (of the existing older internet users) is 5% at the end of year two and 20% or over after year 5 ? Management should ensure that a new version is available at the end of year two ? Management should evaluate product to verify whether or not it is earning 2% of revenues at the end of year two and 5% of revenues after year five. ? Product should be evaluated at the end of year two to ensure it has been translated into at least three languages and 15 or more languages after year five is complete ? Success of site should also be determined by whether or not it gets at least 10 million hits per month (eyeballs) after year two and 40 million hits per month by the end of year five ? Economic Value Added (EVA) should be positive at the end of year three B. Product 2 – Google architect ? Management should check to make sure that deadlines have been reached concerning the beta version of the product after year one and the first, complete version is completed by one and a half years after the start of the project ? Dupont Return on Investment (ROI) calculation (net profit

Why Did European Powers Seek Colonies Overseas?

In 1871, a new form of colonisation emerged in Europe and was later differentiated from the Empires of Spain and Portugal in the 15th and 16th centuries as New Imperialism. Intelligibly, it is also referred to as ‘the Scramble for Africa’, as a result of the swift rate at which nations clamoured to gain control of weaker regions in deviated areas from the 1600’s. There is much speculation surrounding the reasoning of such accelerated expansion, however, there is a clear correlation of events that have been linked to New Imperialism.I do not attest the popular belief that this colonisation increased tension in Europe and, in this essay, I will endeavour to present a synthesis of this premise. Similar to the explorers of old imperialism, European powers were drawn to Africa for economic benefits. The British economist, J. A Hobson, argued the drive for new colonies was influenced by the desire of capitalists to profit from these regions. The credibility of this asse rtion is heightened by the knowledge of the ongoing industrialisation of Europe, prompting a demand for larger markets and cheaper raw materials and labour.It was equally the case of nations, such as Britain, that were at the end of the industrial boom, as they sought new markets for manufactured goods. The abandonment of free trade in Europe in the 1870s signified the introduction of a wave of tariffs on imported goods and resulted in a sweeping effect across Europe to search for alternative markets elsewhere. The validation of this is reflected in the leap of Britain’s overseas investments from 187 million pounds in 1871 to 4,000 million pounds in 1914.Economic advantage was certainly a motivating factor, however, some European nations, such as France, underwent little industrial growth and had gained little from colonising. It appears imperialism was a source of national pride and acted as a distraction to unfavourable events at home. This was certainly the case in France, which was still recovering from a humiliating defeat in the Franco-Prussian war and was understandably envious of its European counterparts that were replete with wealth and power.It is then unsurprising that the French became one of the leading imperialists of the time, with an empire of Indo-China, north and west Africa and over 60 million people by 1914, although their colonies contributed sparsely to the economy. Imperialism was an accepted route to regard, as was expressed by both the French statesman, Leon Gambetta in the remark, â€Å"to remain a great nation/you must colonise† and the British writer A. C Benson, in his song, â€Å"Land of Hope and Glory† which applauded colonisation.The most intriguing and often bewildering explanation for imperialism was concerned with philanthropy. Although it seems an unnatural concept in this day and age, 19th century Europeans believed they were a superior race and it was their duty to cultivate European ideas and ways of living in Africa. This perspective was a manipulated adaptation of Darwin’s theory of natural selection and was widely regarded, particularly in Britain and Germany, as the truth.The view of the British writer, Rudyard Kipling, in ‘The White Man’s Burden’ is an appropriate reflection of this and depicts the so-called â€Å"burden† upon Europeans to help less fortunate races. Evidently, it was conceited; nevertheless, missionaries such as The White Fathers and Robert Moffat made progress in Africa to soothe troubles and, polemically, converted many from Paganism to Christianity. European Governments often used Darwin’s theory as an excuse to subjugate Africans and, thus, imperialism grew in popularity.Technological advances like the railway, steamship and telegraph and improved weaponry like the breech-loading rifle, capable of firing several rounds before the need to reload also gave Europeans a distinct advantage over natives and made Afric a much more vulnerable to attack. Many saw medical advances, such as, the use of quinine as protection from malaria and advances in transport as an opportunity to explore what was known as the ‘Dark Continent’, as many of the inner regions of Africa remained untouched until this time.The most famous of which, Dr. David Livingstone, whom travelled from his native Scotland to the vast regions of Central Africa to carry out medical and missionary work, enlightened the imagination of the European public. In 1869, Henry Stanley of the New York Herald sent for Livingstone after a loss of contact for over four years, and eventually succeeded when Livingstone was found at Lake Tanganyika in east Africa, greeting him with the famous line, â€Å"Dr. Livingstone, I presume? †. Following the disclosure of the story, Europeans became increasingly nterested in what Africa had to offer and pressure was put on governments to colonise; in Germany, many lobby groups, such as The G erman Navy League were created in support of colonisation and achieved their desires when Bismark, apparently â€Å"no man for colonies† acquired colonies in the Cameroons, Togal and east Africa, south west Africa and the Pacific Islands, like Marshall Isle. In fact, it was with adept explorers that ‘The Scramble of Africa’ began, when, in 1870, Henry Stanley took his experience from travelling Africa and, under the advice of King Leopold of Belgium, formed the International African Association.He then reached agreements with tribal leaders in the Congo region, in which they placed themselves and their subjects under the protection of King Leopold. The French followed suit with their explorer, Savorgnan de Brazza, being sent to the north of the River Congo where he reached similar agreements with indigenous tribal chiefs. The Germans joined in with their protectorate over the Cameroons in 1884 and so the scramble commenced. Wilhelm II was in power in Germany from 1890 to 1914, at the height of imperialism. He is largely responsible for the damaged relations in Europe as opposed to colonisation.Under the management of Bismark, 1871-1890, Europe was reasonably calm and relations remained unchanged, regardless of the imperialism taking place at the time. Bismarck realised the potential tension that could arise as a result of the race for colonies and called The Second Conference of Berlin, 1884-1885, to resolve the issue. It was agreed that the Congo Free State would be controlled by an international organisation and was to operate on a free trade basis, meaning the importation of goods would go without taxation.Natives were not to be exploited by European powers and the slave trade was to be abolished. Most importantly, Africa was to be divided into spheres of influence, whereby European powers were to be given economic and political rights in particular areas of the continent. This move cleared any uncertainty regarding where one could colon ise, with the exception of The Fashoda Crisis, 1898, which actually resulted in improved Anglo-French relations, following a brief clash over interests in a small village on the Nile in southern Sudan.In 1896, General Kitchener led the British in an attempt to secure Sudan from the north, while French forces, under General Marchand, arrived in Fashoda, 650km from the British-occupied Khartoum, seeking the very same result. Both leaders confronted one another at Fashoda and remained there for six months, until the French Foreign Minister, Theophile Delcasse, stood down, as the French were unprepared for war without their Russian ally and their difficult time after the Dreyfus Affair. The incident ended peacefully. Following the resignation of Bismarck in 1890, European relations were severed and the balance of power shifted uneasily.However, this was not the result of colonial rivalry; Wilhelm II made numerous mistakes in his administration of German foreign policy to disrupt Europea n relations and cause tension. This began with his poor response to Britain’s humiliating defeat in what is known as, the Jameson Raid. In 1895, the British Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain, along with Cecil Rhodes, Prime Minister of the Cape Colony and Dr. Starr Jameson, official to the British South African Company led a badly organised attack on the Boers in the Transvaal area of South Africa. They were easily defeated and Jameson himself was captured.This incident humiliated the British but did not affect European relations; it was the unnecessary telegram sent by Wilhelm II to Paul Kruger, President of the Transvaal, congratulating him of his defeat of the British, â€Å"without appealing to a friendly power† that caused uproar and hostility throughout Europe. The incident to follow – the First Moroccan Crisis, 1905-1906 – was a means of sabre rattling or troublemaking for Wilhelm II. In 1905, having been suspicious of French intentions, he lan ded his yacht at Tangiers and announced his support of Moroccan independence to the Sultan and pledged German protection of that independence.He then demanded a conference to be held in Algeciras to discuss the matter which France reluctantly agreed to. The main intention of Wilhelm II at this point was to test the strength of the Entente Cordiale between France and Britain and he hoped to weaken it through this intervention. However, Germany managed only to get the support of Morocco and Austria-Hungary, while France was supported by Britain, the US, Russia, Spain and even Italy. The crisis strengthened rather than weakened the Entente and was a direct result of the sabre rattling of Wilhelm II, not colonial rivalry.He interceded once again in the Second Moroccan Crisis, 1911, when he accused France of annexing Morocco. The grounds of his argument, after the occupation of French troops of Morocco when a war had broken out in the capital, Fez and foreigners were in danger, was a sup posed breech of the terms agreed in the Algeciras Conference, 1906. Wilhelm II sent a gunboat, the Panther to Agadir, however the British then intervened by commanding his retreat and threatening to send naval forces to stop him. He surrendered and Anglo-French ties were further strengthened.Wilhelm II was viewed as a warmonger – a seeker of war – and tension within Europe was strong, as a result of his conduct. New Imperialism did not occur as a result of one factor, but of an accumulation of vacillating events, for example, industrialisation that prompted technological advances, which encouraged explorers and eventually a saturation of industry or a failure to industrialise and a need to gain prestige elsewhere – all of which contributed heavily to imperialism. Regardless of the reasoning, by the 19th century, all of Africa with the exception of Abyssinia and Liberia had been conquered by European powers.However, the important question remains on how colonisat ion affected European relations; was it truly a contributing factor to World War I or was it indeed a derivative of existing tension at home that was actually accelerated by distrust between nations? Is it possible that imperialism was simply a distraction for Europeans from their quickly diminishing relations and may have delayed the inevitable outburst of war? It remains unanswered but I simply hope I have justified a slightly different interpretation of the affairs outlined above.

Modernity In Criminology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Modernity In Criminology - Essay Example These substantive and procedural reforms have converted the historical ideal of the juvenile court as a welfare agency into a quasi-penal system that provides young offenders with neither therapy nor justice. The positivists who created the juvenile court conceived of it as an informal welfare system in which judges made dispositions in the "best interests" of the child. In 1967 the Supreme Court in In re Gault granted juveniles some constitutional procedural rights in delinquency hearings and provided the impetus to modify juvenile courts' procedures, jurisdiction, and purposes. (Feld, 1999, 24-25) The ensuing procedural and substantive convergence between juvenile and criminal courts eliminated virtually all the conceptual and operational differences in strategies of social control for youths and adults. Even proponents reluctantly acknowledge that juvenile courts often fail either to save children or to reduce youth crime. In short, the contemporary juvenile court constitutes a conceptually and administratively bankrupt institution with neither a rationale nor a justification. According to Paul (2002, 69-70) social structural and cultural changes fostered both the initial creation and contemporary transformation of the juvenile court. Ideological changes in cultural conceptions of children and in strategies of social control during the nineteenth century led positivists to create the juvenile court in 1899. ... s combined new theories of criminality, such as positivism, with new ideas about childhood and adolescence to construct a social welfare alternative to criminal courts. They designed juvenile courts to respond flexibly to youths' criminal and non-criminal misconduct, to assimilate and integrate poor and immigrant children, and to expand control and supervision of young people and their families. (Tanenhaus, 2004, 111-112) The juvenile court positivists removed children from the criminal justice and corrections systems, provided them with individualized treatment in a separate system, and substituted a scientific and preventive alternative to the criminal law's punitive policies. By separating children from adults and providing a rehabilitative alternative to punishment, juvenile courts also rejected criminal law's jurisprudence and its procedural safeguards, such as juries and lawyers. Juvenile courts' flexible and discretionary strategies enabled its personnel to differentiate and discriminate between their own children and "other people's children," those of the poor and immigrants. (Duffy, 2004, 39) A century later, social structural changes have modified the cultural conceptions of young people and the strategies of social control that juvenile courts employ. These changes leave the juvenile court, as an institution, searching for a new policy foundation and legal rationale. (Kittrie, 2000, 156-157) Since Gault, social structural, demographic, and legal changes have altered dramatically juvenile courts' structure and functions, the characteristics of their clientele, and the crime and social welfare issues that they confront. The social construction of adolescence as a developmental stage distinct from adulthood and new sensibilities about children began to pose

Discuss the reforms made by SCAP and their legac Essay

Discuss the reforms made by SCAP and their legac - Essay Example At the same time, the demilitarization issue became so controversial because; despite the fact that military empowerment was banned by Article 9 of the constitution, Japan continued to sustain a strong military budget (Buckley 4). The reforms not only demilitarized Japan but also aimed to enhance democracy and the rule of law in the country. They influenced Japan to shift away from the Meiji Constitution and the Prewar forces and policies. An important pillar of the reforms was the introduction of the initiative that sovereignty comes from the citizens because it eliminates the higher privilege of autocracy. At the same time, the reforms aimed to protect the rights of women. The latter gave the Japanese women the power to vote. The endorsement of clause 9 of the constitution by the reforms helped to prevent Japan from becoming a violent military power. However, the United States later pressurized Japan to rebuilt its military power for self-defense against other outside ideologies such as communism in other parts of the world, including Asia. This came soon after the Korean War and the Chinese Civil War. During the war in Korea, the US military forces withdrew from Japan. This left the country almost defenseless. A national police reserve was also created that was armed with massive weaponry equivalent to the army. The reforms also led to the formation of the Japan Self-defense Forces that acted as an extension of the police force. Another reform was liberalization. The priorities of the US towards Japan gradually shifted from the liberal policies to a change in the political stability as well as economic recovery. Democratization and demilitarization lost their momentum and seemed to stall. For example, economic decentralization was uncompleted as the country responded to new imperatives. The US also encouraged industrial policies and business activities that have now become sources of

Digital Media - Critical Perspectives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words - 1

Digital Media - Critical Perspectives - Essay Example What then is information society? The most common definition of information society emphasizes on technological innovation. The term refers to society where the creation, distribution and use of information are the most important aspects of economic, cultural, technological, occupational and spatial activities. An information society idea can be contrasted in societies where economic strengths lie in industrial or agrarian base. The tools of information society are computers and telecommunications as opposed to ploughs showing that information societies represent highly industrialized societies (Webster, 2005:10). The concept of information society originated from the Japanese social sciences in the early 1960s. the Japanese version of the term (joho shakai or johoka shakai) came from a conversation between Kisho Kurokawa, a famous architect and Tudao Umesao, a renowned historian and anthropologist. The first debut of the term in a written text was in a study published in 1964 by Jiro Kamishima. Since then, the term has been widely used throughout the world. Therefore, it is important to understand the term information society from the five definitions including technological, economic, occupational, spatial and cultural aspects (Lyon, 1998:3). The technological definition of information society focuses on technological innovations and the effects that the innovations have on information technologies in different sectors of society. The major aspect here is that the cost of using computers has become cheap and helped in their application in different fields. This definition provides one important aspect of information society. Technological innovations are among the most visible indicators of new times and considered as an aspect representing the concept of information society. The technological innovations include personal computers,

Marketing Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Marketing - Term Paper Example It is considered a revolutionary advancement that has been made in the field of customer services. The root of CRM process can be traced back in sales where CR managers study customer buying patterns and trends in order to match service levels to revenue expectations alongside satisfying the needs of the customers. The underlying rationale behind this management process is to bring down the rate of customer complaints thereby addressing their issues at the earliest and henceforth rewarding customer loyalty and maintain a high customer retention rate. In order to carry the process effectively special computer programs have also been designed. Driven by customer economics, companies have been implanting the CRM process for a long time. The CRM initiatives are directed towards formulating effective CRM strategies in order to support the overall business strategy as well as the sales and marketing department. A better coordination and synergy between these elements process proves that th e CRM process has delivered its promise of increasing the customer loyalty and maximizing the shareholder value (Raihan, Hamid & Akhir, 2013). The primary objective of CRM as explained by the author is to obtain a better understanding of customer requirements and preferences which are directed towards offering the customers with high quality buying experience as well as services thereby leading to customer loyalty. CRM system involves processes such as data warehousing and mining, online order tracking, multi-channel ordering system, call centre and so son and so forth are used as the means to deliver the expected result. During the age of mass production, business world involved competitions that catered to widen customer bases for companies by carrying out efficient production (Oztaysi, Sezgin & Ozok, 2011). New competitions and structural modifications in the process of exchange have led to the establishment of the relationship archetype for the creation of long term relationship s between suppliers and customers. The reasons that can be attributed to this fact are globalization of business, deregulation and internalization, shorter product life cycle, information technology advancements and the evolving association between customer retention and company profitability (Osarenkhoe & Bennani, 2007). CRM involves the planned usage of process, information, technology and people in order to manage customer’s relationship with the company thereby supervising the marketing, sales, services and support division of a company. This process is carried out across the whole customer life cycle (Tu & Yang, 2013). Customer knowledge is a crucial aspect that plays a major role in ensuring a successful CRM process. It is a critical asset and thus, proper collection, sharing and managing and sharing of customer knowledge can help a company to gain competitive advantage over its peers. However, over the past few years it has been witnessed that customer knowledge receiv ed very little attention while CRM strategies were formulated. Customer knowledge/data i.e. the knowledge from customers can be obtained by interacting with them in order to understand their needs and requirements in order to provide them with superior quality services (Khodakarami & Chan, 2013). CRM system comprises of a group of information sources that enables a company to gather, store and analyze customer data in order to provide an exhaustive view of their customers. As can be seen from the theories provided above,

How to make university more international Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

How to make university more international - Essay Example Foreign students, while in lectures, are comfortable sharing with their comrades. Once classes are up, they tend to retreat into their respective ethnic and cultural cocoons (Wu, 2012). This is damaging to the principle of integration of the academic community that University education is grounded on. Universities in the East and Africa have also introduced original, western sports curricular in their programs. This has led to foreign students feeling welcome. Universities in India, for example, have introduced Soccer to integrate foreign students from Europe. This has seen over 80% of Indian sub-continent Universities introducing Soccer into their sports curriculum (SuaÃŒ rez, 2007). While lack of foreign sport is not a problem per se, it is a limitation that, if addressed in the right manner could have a dramatic impact on the University’s social community. The best way to introduce this into schools would be via provision of funding for the construction of new sport gymnasiums and playfields, while also increasing funding for research into these sports, since sports science is not a priority in Eastern countries (SuaÃŒ rez, 2007). Naturally, this would start with one sport that would act as the pilot project. A review of its success after a set period would act as a pointer at the potential foreign sport has in integrating foreign students fully into University programs & curriculum. Introduction of foreign sports on campus grounds would achieve much more than integration. Foreign teams that specialize in this sport would provide funding for sport science studies, with native students benefiting from this via increased funds to the University sport kitty. Native students would also be encouraged to try their hand at these games. Examples include Tae Kwon do from Korea, Ping pa from China, and American football. Since some are Olympic Games, foreign athletes would use the facilities for training, thus giving native students who try their hand at these

Rewriting the Fairytale Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Rewriting the Fairytale - Essay Example She put on her old but clean dress, wore a pair of torn down sandals, straightened her hair, and left for the party. At the party, the prince did not seem to be interested in any of the ladies. He looked at Cinderella, and offered her to dance with him. She was felling triumphant and looked at the step-sisters with pride. When the clock struck twelve, she decided to leave but when she was running down the stairs, she threw one of her shoes at the staircase, and returned to her home. When called upon by her step-mom, she replied that she was not going to suffer anymore. The next day, the prince’s men came over their place and asked Cinderella if that shoe was hers to which she replied in affirmative. Thus, they got married and lived happily ever after. Analysis The issue that was in my mind while modernizing the story of Cinderella was that: why, in this modern world, a woman should be treated like an inferior person by others. â€Å"Cinderella's story is a classic story of di scrimination† (Angie). In the original story, when she hopes that she will be offered to be taken to the ball, this means that she wants herself to be treated on an equal basis as her step-sisters.

Intro to Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Intro to Philosophy - Essay Example the individual private conversations with ourselves that we conduct ‘in our heads.† People therefore talk about "making up my mind" "changing my mind" or of being "of two minds" about some matter about which a decision is required. This fits in with the idea that the mind is a very private and personal area to which no other person has access. The etymology of the word in English shows how there is some confusion as to what ‘mind’ actually means. In Old English it was ‘gemynd’, a word used to refer to memory and intention as well as thinking (, Harper 2012), even ‘having the mind aroused’. In Greek the word ‘memona’ referred to both yearning for something and also madness. In Latin, as in Old English, the word was linked to recall and memory. In English by the 14th century ‘to mind’ meant to remember. In French however the word is ‘esprit’ or spirit, and in German ‘geist’ i.e. ghost , both referring to an intangible something. The brain is obviously a physical object, it can be measured, observed, even weighed. With modern imaging techniques it is even possible to see it in action, chemically, neurologically and electronically. The mind however is much less tangible – something we all know exists yet cannot quite explain. It is a separate entity. Our body can be totally relaxed, even asleep, but the mind can be very active. The reverse can also be true - we are running along perhaps, pushing our body to its physical limits, while at the same time the mind is simply ticking over, thinking of almost nothing. The mind can be defined as that part of conscious beings which reasons, perceives, thinks, wills and judges. The Free Dictionary defines the mind as being :- The human consciousness that originates in the brain and is manifested especially in thought, perception, emotion, will, memory and imagination. It is also described in the same dictionary as :- T he collective conscious and unconscious processes in a sentient organism that direct and influence mental and physical behavior. All cognitive being are born with amazing brains and minds, yet it is something about which humanity in general knows relatively very little. This essay will consider various views on the subject, looking at research, at opinions, secular ideas and religious texts. It is likely that man, from earliest time, has been aware that he is made up of more than physical things, more even than what he perceives through his senses - man is after all a dreamer and also capable of spiritual experiences. Probably the oldest known ideas about the mind come from Zoroaster who may have lived as long ago as 2000 B.C.E.(Parsa, undated), although estimates of his dates vary considerably. According to his biographer Zoroaster, a Persian philosopher and the founder of the Zoroastrian religion taught that :- By keeping the mind healthy and by making use of creative forces, indi viduals can find satisfaction and passion in what they do. In Buddhism the body is compared to a house and our mind to a guest staying there. According to this belief when a person dies their mind moves on into the next life or place , and the house, as houses do, stays behind to be taken care of. (Kadampa 2010). The same article also points out that, as the mind is formless, it is totally unrestricted by physical objects – which explains why it is possible to dream or to consider something without being in its

Is management remuneration too excessive Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Is management remuneration too excessive - Essay Example In an article published in Business Week, In 1980 it was established that the a Chief Executive Officer working at a any foremost organization, on average, makes approximately 42 times compared to what a worker works on a normal hourly pay. In the next decade, i.e. 1990, this rate had crossed the doubled mark as it was up to 85 times compared to a normal hourly pay of a worker and in the next decade i.e. the twentieth century, the average salary of a Chief Executive Office has climbed to an incredible 531 times of the regular workers’ hourly pay. (Management 2000) This has been always an argument regarding the fact that the management, especially the top management, such as the Chief Executive Officers, Directors, Chief Financial Officers and the Heads of Departments etc are paid extensively more that the normal employee even though their job is limited to the decision making part while the workers have to put in extra impetus from the planning to the implementation stage. Let us go research in this respect whether the management remuneration is justified. Shleifer and Vishny (1997) in their research have described the corporate governance as the means where the providers of funding guarantee a return on their investments for themselves. Since, the profits of the investors largely depend upon the contracts incurred between themselves and the company so a variety of markets operations and the performance of players of finance has developed into various sub-literatures. literatures. need for the growth in pay of executies Lucian Bebchuk in his article â€Å"The Growth of Executive Pay’, discussed the reasons and the need for the substantial increase and the growth of the pay of executives and the top management personnel. He has justified the growth in the pay scale by the comparison of the size of the organization where the executive is employed. He mentioned â€Å"Remuneration level is predictable to augment due to the increase in the size of the firm and performance of the management, which may vary from industry to industry† He has researched over the average size of the S&P 500 firms from 1993 to 2003 and has expressed the fact that with the relevant increase in the size of the organization or the performance of the company, the compensation of the executives has increased side by side showing a very linear trend. Kaplan and Rauh (2009) inspected the query regarding if increase in the management remuneration can imitate the forc es of the market. The idea was that if a top management personnel’s pay imitates the market forces; in that case its increase should be in line with that of other extensively paid occupations. Kaplan and Rauh also assembled some information on the compensation of high yielding professions such as the employees from the financial service sector, banks, and funds and compared them to the compensation received by the business lawyers, professional athletes, doctors and celebrities. Murphy and Zabojnik (2007) proposed the thought that the escalation in management remuneration embodies the move in the significance of the ability of the managerial staff i.e. the talent and ability which is capable of being transferred through several companies related to the human capital which is specific to the firm i.e. precious only to the extent of the organization, which functioned to support the bargaining point of the top executives through improving their options of working at another orga nization. different views of executive compensation Holmstom (1979) in his article published in the Bell Journal of Economics has discussed several views of the executive compensation of which he has highlighted two of those views. He discusses that one of the view which he highlighted as the

Iceland volcanic Essay Example for Free

Iceland volcanic Essay Natural disasters and their atrocities are but bitter facts of life: we keep hearing about natural disasters taking place all around our world. For example, two year ago in China, a deadly earthquake of magnitude 7. 9 left more than 80,000 people killed which included 18,000 persons officially missing. During this earthquake, many Chinese lost their families and homes. Moreover, in January 2010, Haiti had a 7. 0 Mw earthquake; between 217,000 and 230,000 people were identified dead and 1,000,000 people became homeless. The incidents of earthquakes like these have the tendency to frighten the world: however, the aggregate impact of these on the world is not as intense as in case of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull. The earthquake in Eyjafjallajokull resulted in the cancellation of more than 100,000 flights stranding hundreds of thousands of travelers in airport around the world. To worsen this, it happened to shut down a third of industry such as farmer, airline or other industries relying on the air transportation. According to TIME, it was the most severe global travel disruption since World War II. Although we have state-of-the-art technology to predict the incident of earthquakes and thus protect human life before the tragedy happens, we have to understand very well that the mother earth keeps surprising us: one of such reminders comes from the Iceland. Iceland is located on the both Iceland hotspot and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge with highly geological active volcanoes. It has 130 volcanoes out of which 18 have erupted. In June 1783, Laki volcano erupted with devastating effects not only on Iceland but the entire world. To start with, it caused such a famine that became the reason of the death of nearly one fourth of the Iceland people. Furthermore, the ash and dust clouds kept covered most of the Europe and parts of Asia and Africa for several months. In addition to these, it also impacted the global climate, for instance, after the Laki eruption, North America had the longest and coldest winter. Eyjafjallajokull, meaning ‘island mountain glacier’ in Icelandic, is a smaller ice cup in Iceland. The volcanic events are considered to be a single eruption with different phases. In fact, it began to erupt since the Ice Age; whereas, according to available record, the recent eruption of Eyjafjallajokull occurred in 920, 1612 and from 1821 to 1823. The first-time eruption, anyhow, started on March 20, the volcano began to eject olivine basaltic andesite lava which led to a volcanic eruption of Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) 1. After almost a month, the earth didn’t get quite yet, instead the eruption became stronger and throwing a vast plume of glass- rich ash to over 7 miles into the atmosphere which rises to VEI 4. The ice and air are the main reasons for such devastating eruption. The weight of the glacier atop the volcano helps the magma inside build to a higher pressure. So when the mountain had eruption, the high pressure can send the volcanic gases and ash miles into the sky. However fortunately for the USA, the ash cloud is travelling east- southeast toward Europe even Asia. Since the eruption is very strong, the ash clouds have already reached North America, as the western part of Canada’s Labrador Peninsula, the Newfoundland Island and small islands. Besides, the volcanic melted a part of a glacier causing heavy and large flooding and, resultantly, 600 people living around the area had to move to a save place. Today, there is no such evidence to show the volcano has calmed down. Scientist said that, under the limited technology of volcanic, it is difficult to predict the development of the volcanic. According to the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, the Icelandic volcano eruption would last for two year and then the ash will stop until the glacier melted. As a matter of fact, no one can tell how long the eruption had lasted for as by May 14, the volcano eruption was still increasing. The scientists are concerned about the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull that it may lead to Katla erupted too as tested through events in the past. â€Å"There have been three Eyjafjallajokull eruptions and Katla has followed each time† said geophysicist Sigrun Hriensdottir, at the Earth Science Institute. Sigrun Hriensdottir believes that the volcanoes are directly linked underground in a way that the magma from one can flow into the other. Therefore, the eruption of Katla may cause heavier and larger flooding that can influence more Icelanders. The Icelanders are themselves worried owing to the fact that the Eyjafjallajokull eruption is a small rehearsal before the eruption of Katla and they fear that the eruption of Katla may take place anytime: on two months later or tomorrow. The airline industry, already pummeled by the recession, has lost nearly $2 billion. Almost 100,000 fearful customers marooned overseas and the industry lost $9 million a day that stranded vacationers would spend on their extra accommodation, catering etc. Thus in this very connection, Thomas Grindle, chief of aircraft maintenance at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif warns that the ash can definitely do some real damage to airplane’s engines; it can get sucked into the hot combustion chamber without being noticed by the pilots. Although the pilots can fly around or under the ash cloud, the problem is that it’s difficult to measure the amount of ash in the air and to worsen this we don’t have the complete measurement of the ash for flying. A deeper lesson, human learns from such disasters that we can’t fight nature. The only thing we can do is to wait for the earth to become quiet again. We also realize how limited knowledge we have about the volcano: we, resultantly, can’t do anything with the volcano and we cannot predict when it will stop or what will happen next. However, there are three things we can do: get prepared to deal with it, do more research, and above all, pray fro the best.